Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512402
64 SAG-AFTRA | Fall/Winter 2023 | sagaftra.org G eorge Holland was a comic actor so beloved that his death unexpectedly brought a nickname to a Manhattan church that has persisted for over 150 years. When he died just before Christmas in 1870 at 79 years old, his best friend, Rip Van Winkle stage star Joseph Jefferson, and Holland's actor son Edmund set out to arrange his funeral at his relatives' place of worship, the (now-demolished) Church of the Atonement on Madison Avenue and 28th Street. When Jefferson told the church's young rector, William T. Sabine, the deceased was an actor, Sabine replied he would not allow a funeral for an actor at his church, only from Mr. Holland's home. Jefferson was outraged, young Holland was upset and Reverend Sabine countered with, "There is a little church around the corner where they do that sort of thing." Jefferson stormed off with Edmund in tow. That "little church" was the Church of the Transfiguration, just a block away on E. 29th Street, where it remains to this day. They were welcomed by Rev. George Houghton, who was happy to host the funeral. The New York Times reported the funeral was packed with distinguished theatrical mourners, and even the mayor attended. Numerous journalists condemned Rev. Sabine in print, but none fiercer than Mark Twain, then co-editor of the Buffalo Express newspaper and an editor for The Galaxy monthly, who responded with a scathing 1,700-word Sabine-skewering diatribe carried by The Galaxy and The New York Times. Twain opened with: "What a ludicrous satire it was upon Christian charity! — to say to such as George Holland, 'You are unworthy; you are a play actor and consequently a sinner; I cannot take the responsibility of recommending you to the mercy of Heaven,'" closing with, "Honored and honorable old George Holland, whose theatrical ministry had for 50 years softened hard hearts, bred generosity in cold ones, kindled emotion in dead ones, uplifted base ones, broadened bigoted ones, and made many and many a stricken one glad and filled it brim full of gratitude, figuratively spit upon in his unoffending coffin by this crawling, slimy, sanctimonious, self-righteous reptile!" The Little Church continues to welcome actors: It has been the headquarters of the Episcopal Actors Guild since 1923, celebrating its centennial this year. An Actor's Legacy Lives On: Naming Rights to the 'Little Church Around the Corner' A 1913 color postcard showcases New York City's Little Church Around the Corner, whose name and claim to fame came about because of actors George Holland (far left, circa 1869) and Joseph Jefferson (as Rip Van Winkle, 1869), and writer Mark Twain (top right, 1871). SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES X3